“Pheromones? As in what animals emit when they’re ready to mate?”

Her dark eyes rounded with passion as her fingers loosened every button on his shirt. The cooler air of the room did nothing to ease the fire burning in his veins. “Exactly. I’ve heard that females have a unique scent, but I think it’s men who draw women in.” She ran her hand down his arms and fiddled with his cuff links until they also fell to the floor.

“All men?”

Soft lips pressed against his chest. She pushed his shirt from his shoulders and held him captive with her words. He might have been the one who started this seduction, to make her forget, but he was being thoroughly seduced. “I’ve never smelled a man’s need like I do yours.”

Her tiny tongue shot out and tasted his nipple.

He shivered. “Be careful, Lisa…my ego is growing.”

She giggled and lifted her eyes to his while her hand slid below the waist of his pants. She cupped him fully. “That’s not the only thing growing.”

He pounced, dragging her lips to his while spinning her back to the door. The taste of her, his need for her, surged into him like an arc of fire shooting from a comet. If she sensed his desire before, she must be suffocating with it now. He pressed his arousal against the soft folds of her skin through their clothes. With the door at her back, she arched toward him, increasing the contact and his need.

The slender span of her waist filled his palm then he tried to touch her everywhere at once. They kissed until they both needed air. Only when she was panting hard did he move his mouth to her neck, her shoulder. He clawed at the length of her dress until he touched the tantalizing hot skin at her hip. When his fingers came in contact with a strap he opened his eyes wide. He followed the elastic strap with his fingertips. Eliza watched his reaction with a hooded gaze.

“Lingerie?”

She caught her lower lip between her teeth and rested her head against the door.

The image of her wrapped in straps and silk undid him. Unable to control himself, he spun Eliza until her br**sts pushed against the door and he found the long zipper of her dress. He eased it down by slow degrees. He kissed her neck and the hidden space between her shoulder blades. As the gown slid to the floor, his chin dropped.

Tiny scraps of ivory lace covered only the most intimate places on her perfect body. Stockings made their way mid-thigh, held up with dainty clasps. Carter ran his hand down her spine. Eliza struggled to breathe and watched him over her shoulder.

He could keep her dressed in lingerie every day and never get used to this view. “Lovely,” he whispered.

“Can I turn around?”

He held her in place. “Not yet…I’m not done.”

Gooseflesh rose on her exposed skin. He liked how his words made her squirm. He traced his hand down her spine and kissed her in its wake. She tasted like spring, fresh and inviting. He fed from her like a starving man. When her hips lifted as his tongue traced the sensitive flesh under her lace panties, he smiled. He knelt behind her and molded his hands down her shapely thighs. Even the silk of her stockings felt like sin. He nibbled at her hips and lowered the fabric of her panties without disturbing the garter holding up her stockings. He helped her lift one foot at a time and tossed the garment aside.

“You’re killing me, Carter.”

He touched the soft globes of her bare bottom and between her thighs. She was molten and pliant to his touch. He sought her most delicate places and when her breath hitched, he dropped his forehead to the small of her back.

“Please,” she begged.

Twisting her around, he licked and kissed his way to her core. When there, her knees buckled as he drank his fill. She squirmed against him and mumbled equal desires for him to stop and to continue. Her hands held him closer and kneaded his flesh, leaving indents with her nails. Her breath hitched and then he pulled away.

“You’ll pay for this,” she promised.

He couldn’t wait.

He released her from the door and backed her to the bed. She crawled into the center with stockings and heels still intact. Damn she was sexy. The pins in her hair scattered. Her hair tumbled, cascading loose, and draped over her shoulders. After kicking off his shoes and hastily removing his clothes, he joined her on the bed and pulled them both to the middle of the mattress. Her high heel scraped the back of his thigh. His erection throbbed.

When the lace of her bra soon became too much of a hindrance, he removed it for better access and tasted one pert nipple before turning to the other.

Soft hands clawed at his back and pulled him closer. The heat of her sex beckoned, and Eliza enticed him with her scent. Slim fingers wrapped around him, stroking him and destroying any ability to think.

When had he ever wanted a woman this much? Had he ever? With Eliza, it was more than want. More than sexual need. She nudged him between her thighs and opened for him to take.

As he seated himself and sheathed his body within hers, his heart opened wide.

“Oh, Carter.” She tilted her hips toward his and he moved within her. Each stroke, every quiver, brought him close to spilling inside her. As he took her, claimed her in the most primal of ways, he knew his heart was lost. She owned every ounce of it.

Their movements increased, he drove into her hard but kissed her with all the tenderness he could manage. When she broke away and her slick channel clutched him tight with her release, he allowed himself to join her.

They caught their collective breath together. Their damp skin mingled and scented the sheets with a unique, pleasant aroma. “I could stay like this, with you, forever,” he admitted against the side of her neck.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and tightened her womb. “It’s the shoes isn’t it? I’ve never made love with my shoes on before.”

“That’s not it.”

“The garter belt? I thought you’d like it…but I thought it would eventually make its way to the floor.”

“It’s not your sexy lingerie. But I do like it.”

“Then it must be my sunny disposition,” she teased.

Carter removed some of his weight from her frame and gazed into her big brown eyes. “It’s you. Your courage, your strength…your ability to make me boil from the inside. I’m lying here and wondering why it took us so long to connect.”

She intently watched him, her eyes unwavering. “Because you battled with me about everything, from football teams to the temperature of tea. That’s why.”

He laughed then, remembering some of their earlier arguments. “Sexual tension.”